Automatic shoulder firearm adapted to be used in a carriage



May 22, 1945., w. ROSSMANITH 2,376,726

AUTOMATIC SHOULDER FIRE-ARM ADAPTED TO BE USED IN CARRIAGES Filed Oct.22, 1940 III"IIIIIIIIIII'IIIIIIIIIIII llllwlllllltlll!!!)ll 11 1g @120iii .LWl/T/To W Zf ang Poss manz'zl Afro/ 712 Patented May 22, 1945AUTOMATIC SHOULDER FIREARM ADAPT- ED' TOBE USED IN- A- CARRIAGE WolfgangRossmanith, Solothurn', Switzerland; vested in the Alien PropertyCustodian Applicationoctober 22, 1940, Serial-No. 362,261

Iii-Germany November 8, 1938 1' Claim.

In automatic fire-arms with trigger deviceacting upon the striker of theclosed breech, the inconvenience exists, that when the fire is interrupted a cartridge is still in the barrel and unintentionally might befired in the barrel which has become hot by the previous firing of thecartridges. For this reason it has already been proposed to provide acatching device adapted to catch and stop the breech block in therearextreme position. Thisbreech catch is held-during the firing indisengaged position and, when it is intended to stop thefiring, releasedso that it can engage and lock the breech blockreturning into its openposition.

Trigger devices'acting upon the. striker have the advantage to ensurefor singlefiring, that the fire-arm is steadily held in the aimingposition. In the continuously firing arms, however, the breech rapidlymoves forward as striking device from the rear cocked position. As soonas the breech block reaches the locking position the shot is fired andby the forward movement of the masses of the breech block in conjunctionwith the shock occurring when they are stopped the aimed single shot isdisturbed.

Heretofore a transformation arrangement has been provided which admitsof adjusting the trigger mechanism of the fire-armv to single orcontinuous firing and to make the same act" as striking device. in thefirst instance upon the striker and in the second instance upon thebreech block. It has also already been proposed to arrange on thefire-arm two independent triggers of which one acts upon a catch for thecooked striker and the other upon a catch for the cooked breech block.

The invention relates to the difierent possible firing procedures ofsuch fire-arms in relation to their object of use and employment, now asindependent shoulder arm and then in a carriage. At the same time anadjustment of the arm from single-firing to continuous firing can beeffected. In this manner it is possible for instance to employ the wellknown large-calibre tank gun, which from the shoulder and placed in afork shaped support fires single shots, or as a machinegun in a carriagefor aircraft defence.

By this invention the actual manner of firing is thus automaticallyimparted to those fire-arms, which are capable of carrying out differentkinds of firing corresponding to their employment as shoulder arm ormounted in a carriage. Errors in the adjustment are excluded and thesoldier himself need not trouble himself about carrying out theadjustment. The holding and trigger arrangements for the striker andbreech block ofv the fire-arm may be made and constructed as desired. Ofthe known types of fire-arms those with two triggers independent the onefrom the other and also such which have only one trigger withtransforming mechanism are suitable herefor.

A fire-arm according to the invention is illustrated by way of examplein the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a longitudinal sectionof a fire-arm in the operative position of the trigger arrangementdestined for use as shoulder arm, the breech beingiclosed,

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the fire-arm used as mountedon a carriage, the breech being in the open position,

Figs. 3 and 4 are views, the one in longitudinal section and the otherin cross-section, of a suitable special construction of apart-arrangement,

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view partly in elevation showing a modifiedform of breech catch actuating means.

. Inthe casing l of the fire-arm the breech block 2 is guided at firingin known manner sothat, when unbolted from the barrel 3, it can recoilinv opposition to a closing spring 22. During the recoil movement thestriker 4, mounted in the breech-block 2 so that it can move inlongitudinal direction and; controlled by a firing spring 4a,,is cockedby well-known means (not shown). A sear 5 biased by a spring 5a andoscillatably mounted in the breech block 2 engages in front of a nose 4bof the cooked striker 4, said trigger pawl 5 being adapted to bedisengaged by a trigger device for firing a single shot.

In the present case the trigger device consists of a trigger tongue 8oscillatable about a pin 6 in the trigger guard in opposition to areturn spring I. A catch pawl 9 consisting of an elbow lever ispivotally mounted on said trigger tongue and one arm of this elbow leveris pressed by a spring 9a against a trigger rod I0 controlled by aspring I Do. One arm of the catch pawl 9 cooperates with a shoulder I01)of the trigger rod l0 and pushes this trigger rod upwards into thefiring position when the trigger tongue 8 is pulled back. The sear 5 isthus brought out of the position in which it catches the cooked striker4. When this position has been reached, the second arm of the elbowlever 9 abuts against a face la of the trigger guard. When the triggermovement continues, the arm of the elbow lever acting upon the triggerrod '0 slips off the shoulder I 01) of the trigger rod and this rod canreturn into the initial position under the pressure of its spring lfla.To again fire a shot the tongue 8 of the trigger must be released toreturn into the position of rest and then be pulled back. The triggerdevice operates therefore as single fire trigger and for the operationof the fire-arm as open-firing system.

Besides the single-firing trigger arrangement a breech catch is providedin the rear portion of the casing I of the fire-arm, said breech catchconsisting of a catch pawl II for the breech block 2 oscillatable abouta bolt [2 in the casing l and biased by a spring I3. When the fire-armis to be used as shoulder arm for firing single shots, the catch pawl Hfor the breech block is disengaged and, as shown for instance in Figs. 1and 2, secured in the inoperative position by an insertable pin 14 or byany other locking device adapted to be inserted by hand or automaticallyby a spring. A suitable construction of the last men-,

tioned type is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The breech catch H is shiftablymounted in a casing H3 in transverse guides lb on the bottom of thefirearm. The shiftable casing i8 is biased by springs IS in a positionin which the breech catch H is laterally displaced relative to theaperture lc in the bottom of the fire-arm.

If then the fire-arm is placed into a carriage 35 as diagrammaticallyindicated in Fig. 2 a pro jection [5 on the carriage or a similarelement acts for engaging the trigger rod l and maintaining the same inthe position in which the sear for the striker will be disengaged sothat, when the breech block 2 moves into its extreme front position, ashot is fired. The interrupting effect of the single-firing triggerdevice therefore cannot occur. The controlling of the firing is theneifected by the breech block catch H, the catch face I la of which isoscillated by the spring l3 into the path of a catch notch 2a of thebreech block 2 and by pulling out the pin M or, in the constructionaccording to Figs. 3 and 4, automatically and positively by a stop 20 ofthe carriage, this stop 20 shifting the casing IS in lateral directionwhen the fire-arm is placed on the carriage, so that the breech catch lI catches the breech block 2 in the open position as striking device ofthe arm. The control of the breech catch H for shooting can be effectedby a trigger lever 16 .mounted in the carriage, this lever beingoscillatably mounted on a bolt ll of the carriage and. having an end 5awhich disengages the breech catch ll, against the action of a spring l3,from the breech catch position when the end of its handle is depressed.As long as the trigger lever iii of the carriage is in engagement thearm fires continuously as repetition system, but when the trigger leveris released the breech is held in the rear extreme position by thebreech catch I i.

In order that in special cases single shots can also be fired with thefire-arm mounted in a carriage, the projection I5 of the carriage can bemade adjustable, so that it can be pushed out of the normal position inwhich it acts upon the trigger rod II] as shown in dotted lines in Fig.2. The fire-arm can then be used by means of the trigger 8 for firingsingle shots.

Thus the fire-arm maybe used selectively as semi-automatic firearm uponfiring from the shoulder or as fully automatic firearm mounted in acarriage. Herefrom results for the different technical employment a muchdesired simplification of the fire-arm system. A largecalibre shoulderarm for tank defence operating as a single-firing arm can serve,preferably by addition of a breech catch, as machine gun mounted in acarriage. As a modification of the above described embodiment, in whichthis breech catch is provided on the fire-arm itself, it is sometimesmore practical to mount the breech catch on the carriage. The catch thenengages, for the cooperation with the breech, into an opening in thefire-arm mounted on the carriage, this opening being normally closed.Thus in Fig; 5 thelever I6 and breech catch H are mounted On the guncarriage, the catch ll operating through an opening 3i, in the casing I,whichmay be closed by a slide 32.

I claim:

In a device of the character described a gun carriage, a gun mountedthereon, said gun having a breech block casing, a breech block movablein said casing, a sear on said breech block, a trigger rod slidablymounted in said casing and movable to engage and operate said sear, atrigger adapted to move said rod, said rod extending outside saidcasing, and means on said carriage for holding said rod in position tooperate said sear, said last named means being movable into a positionout of engagement with said rod.

WOLFGANG ROSSMANITl- I.

